Favorite Art, Science, Natural History, or Other Museum?

I've favorite museums and favorite exhibits. Don't get me going.
Plus I've a lot of places I'd like to visit for, say, three days at a time, year in and year out.

The places I haven't been to loom large.

The Boston Museum of Science I suppose, but that's probably because it's closer to me than the Museum of Natural History in NY.

the Boston Museum of Science has always been a personal and sentimental favorite of mine. AS for science museums, its right there with the Carnegie Museum of Science in Pittsburgh.

My personal favorite art museum will always be the MFA in Boston. Though its been almost 2 years since I've last visited.

1. Boston MFA;
2. Metropolitan Museum of NYC;
3. The Whitney Museum of NYC;
4. The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh;
5. The Guggenheim in NYC;
6. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

I haven't visited a museum since my vacation to Pittsburgh last Christmas.

I still haven't gone to the MOMA here in New York or the Museum of Natural History of NYC despite the fact I did a research paper comparing the latter natural history museum (administrative wise) to the The Morgan Library & Museum.

I have dreams of one day visiting the Guggenheim in Bilbao and the soon to be created Guggenheim in Dubai.

As long as I'm building a pipe dream reply ... [sigh] then I would also like to visit the Amsterdam branch of the Hermitage as well as the original Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Then in California... there is the Getty Museum and there is another monster sized museum on LA but I can't remember the name... whatever.

Then there's the Tate Museum.... Too many museums not enough time and money.

Hmmm... lots, but the Field Museum (natural history, Chicago) and the Walker (art, Minneapolis) loom large.

I know the Getty pretty well. Move along with your dreams, although bouncing in for a day or two is fine.

I'm in a rest phase before I post up the wazoo. Not that I have been all so many places, but I'd like to include where I'd like to go.

Oh, LACMA is no monster, just ask many people besides me.

For the contents on display -- the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, hands down. Neither the Met in NYC nor the MFA in Boston can come close to competing with the treasures at the National Gallery. For quirky architecture, definitely the Guggenheim, NYC. I'm intimately familiar with the MFA, having worked there as a gallery guard several years ago, but -- frankly -- the Isabella Stewart Gardner impresses me more. Let's hope that when the East Wing addition to the MFA is completed, they'll be able to display more of the stuff they have to keep in storage. They have one of the largest collections of Impressionist work in the world and the third most valuable Egyptology collection in the world (only Cairo and London have more imppressive collections; the Met's, by comparison, is original amateur hour).

For science museums, I'm trying to remember whether I've ever actually visited the Boston Museum of Science. Maybe as a kid years and years ago. The New York Museum of Natural History is quite impressive, but I still prefer the Smithsonian in D.C. I know, I know. It's spread out over too many venues, but if you've got the time, that's the place to go.

Have to mention the Museum of Asian Art in San Francisco. Comprehensive and extremely well laid out. And the SF Museum of Modern Art compares quite favorably with MoMa in NYC.

The Chicago Art Institute is a nice big, rambling building. But it contains hardly anything I'd consider memorable.

I guess I should mention the desire to go to the National Gallery of Art. How is it on 20th century and contemporary art?

It seems like forever since the Boston MFA started its major overhaul/renovation. I wonder when they're going to finish. I remember going to it about 3 or 4 years ago when they started.

I had planned to visit my favorite space in Boston. The museum's Buddhist temple, not the rock garden which I'm sure is still there but an actual wooden temple taken apart piece by piece from Japan and rebuilt in the Asian Art section. Of course to my surprise it was no longer there due to the renovation. I certainly hope its going to be brought back when everything is finished.

This afternoon, i got off the subway at Museum station. It is called that because it is the subway stop for the ROM--the Royal Ontario Museum. It is also close to Victoria University (a "college" of the University of Toronto) which has a modest museum there, and just around the corner from the Gardiner Museum.

When you get off the subway train, the columns which support the roof above you resemble ancient Greek columns, or Egyptian stele, or totem poles, or Polynesian megaliths, or Meso-American stele. But what is really cool is the Gardiner Museum. It was founded by and is funded by the estate of a rich man (named Gardiner, unsurprisingly) who was interested in ceramics. So, it has a huge collection of ceramics, ancient and modern. Click on the link, there, and check it out.

I've been to the National Gallery but was not transfixed. This is probably my fault. I did really like, instead, the Phillips museum over near Dupont Circle.
Checked out the Corcoran. The Phillips still got my interest.

When I saw all these places in Washington was a long time ago. I'd be interested in what y'all think now.

The Museum of the Academy, Florence, Italy. It houses the David and other Michelangelos. Riveting. Awesome.

The British Museum. I got so wrapped up in the Etruscan wing that I thought the guards would have to drag me out, kicking and screaming. I used to dream of taking a vacation in London. I'd go to the British Museum every morning and somewhere else in the afternoon.

The Frick in NYC. It has my favorite Rembrandt self-portrait and two Vermeers that are spell-binding. I would also love to be let loose in the library.

The Museum of Natural History, NYC. I used to hang out there a lot. Favorite exhibits? The dinosaurs. The blue whale. The American Indian artifacts. And on and on and on.

The Metropolitan Museum, NYC. Wonderful impressionist collection. Wonderful Egyptian wing. Wonderful, wonderful.

The Louvre. Sigh. Too much to see, not enough time.

That temple in the Metropolitan Museum ... its kind of perversely neat to see the still readable 19th century graffiti inside. Last time I went there was for a end of semester class assignment and we were given a scavenger hunt. My adhoc team came in third.

I love the dinosaur and anthropological exhibits in both the Boston Museum of Science and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History/Science.

I still haven't been the the Frick.

Have you a chance to visit the Louvre and the Winged Victory?

The Frick, Roberta and I both love the Frick. I'll bow to her.
I wrote on a2k about it, but roberta knows more.

Tsar, do you remember McBeans? Or Tartarin? (This question is relevant).



Winged Victory, I named a painting of my own about it. This isn't a promotional, though, just a comment.

I trust your replies are sincere and relevant.


Hmm.... Too fuzzy on those names. An Abuzz thing? Then again, I'm not the most reliable individual when it comes to names and such.

I'm more jealous that you have the talent and/or courage to paint. Sell them here if it makes you feel chuffed!

Well, the names -
McBeans/Tartarin, very interesting poster and a friend.

I'm a painter but so are a zillion other people.
Tartarin was exceptionally good, but she didn't promote herself on a2k. She sent me her slides and I painfully sent them back, since I wanted to keep them. Really hard to send back.

One single slide was related to the Frick, which is why I even bring this up.

The Winged Victory at the top of the stairs took my breath away.

I loved the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. And Rembrandt's house. Lots of etchings there.

It's also worth schlepping up to northern Manhattan to the Cloisters. The place itself is worth the trip. The Unicorn tapestries are magnificent.

That's the only thing I remember about my visit to the Louvre during my high school trip to France.

Even more memorable then the Mona Lisa which I could barely see behind the all too massive crowd mulling in front of it.